Fort Mcmurray cost of living?

Canada Immigration Forum (discussion group)

Subject: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?

Anybody here lives/work in Fort Mcmurray?
How´s the cost of living?
I read alot that it is very expensive to live there...I checked the apartment rates and are really quite expensive...but maybe some unpublished for rents are more cheaper?

[17-08-2008,04:34] [***.34.67.102]Anonymous

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)I live in Fort McMurray.

Cost of living, in terms of housing is very expensive.
Rent is very expensive.

Easy options:
a) Rent a room for about $1200/ month
b) Get a job with a company that could either provide accomodation in their camps or some of them have their own houses for employees.

Average two bedroom apt is about $2700/ month.(Rental)
House rental property is about $5000/month.

Trailers and condos are cheaper but I am not familiar with the $$$$ of them.

It is a good place to live, lots of job opportunities. Depending who you work for, most of our customers either dig oil of the ground or natural gas.

Cheers

Bill

[18-08-2008,11:52] [***.34.111.122]Bill

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)Thanks Bill, and just to jump in here with a comment. Why is housing so damn expensive in Canada? I just don´t understand it. Or are some of us just used to unnaturally low prices in the States.

I guess I attribute it to costs to move material across vast distances, and finding skilled labor in sparsely populated areas. But that doesn´t answer the reasons for Toronto and Vancouver.

land is the expensive part of a house purchase in Vancouver. Some of our costs are higher because our limited population makes shipping costs per unit higher but it is not the primary factor.

Vancouver is the closest major city to Hong Kong on the entire continent. We have temperate climate, great drinking water, recreational opportunities and a very limited amount of land. A+B+C+D = $$$$$

[18-08-2008,15:03] [**.155.160.37]Sharon

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)Yes, some of this makes sense, especialy for Vancouver. But when I look at and visit the vast expanses of Canada, I don´t see a land shortage.

The lot sizes in Toronto´s suburbs are tiny compared to equivalent priced houses in the States. Yet neither is lacking in land. There must be something different going on.

[18-08-2008,15:08] [***.131.12.0]Richard

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)on the Home and Gardens channel there is a real estate program called Location Location (at least I think that is what it is called). each show focuses on what you can buy around the country, or around the world for XXXX amount of money - be it $300,000 or 1 million.

Canada does not appear to be unique in the wild range of pricing. Ammenities, proximity, servicable land, access to employment, limited infrastructure, all seem to play a part.

I forgot about another reason for Vancouver being expensive - it is called the ALR. Agricultural Land Reserve. Some deliberate steps have been taken to insure we will not build homes on land we need to feed ourselves.

[18-08-2008,15:45] [**.155.160.37]Sharon

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)In Fort McMurray, what is driving the price of housing is the demand.

The city cannot keep up, with the growth. The infrastructure to treat water, power etc is not quite there yet and on top of that is hard to get trade people up here.

Here is a scenario:

A carpenter is hired to built a house, he is going to get paid.. let´s say $45 / hour working for Joe Doe which is a decent sizes contruction company.

If Mr.Carpenter works for a plant site, he is going to get a sign in bonus for $20,000 + $60/h + camp accomodations + a juicy benefit package + something else.

For Joe Doe in order to keep Mr.Carpenter he has to offer very competitive wages as well and that money has to come from somewhere. That is one of the reasons why housing is so damn expensive.

Too many people moving in and not enough houses and that is driving the market.

In Places like Victoria the housing value is droping same as Edmonton. Demand is not high, it is just stable and there are a lot of houses in the market for sale. Same thing happened in Kelowna. Too many houses for sale (a lot of people moving to Alberta) not enough buyers and shot the price right down from the sky.

Fort Mc is like a little weird bubble. Plant sites are getting nothing but bigger, wages are sick, not enough houses, lots of people moving in. I don´t think that the house pricing is going to drop, it is just going to stabilize for awhile.

Right now an average 3 bedroom house 1500 sq feet is about $650,000 and trust me, it ain´t a fancy house.

The amazing thing is though, people pay for it.

One of my techncians, bought a house three years ago for $390,000 she put %5 down payment.

She just sold the house for $680,000 and bought her dream home in Saskatchewan for $310,000.

Her mortgage is only about $25,000 after fees and stuff. Instead of the $350,000 that used to be.

Where else can you invest $19,000 and make almost $300 k three years later?

Cheers

Bill

[18-08-2008,15:59] [***.34.111.122]Bill

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)Maybe this answered a question on a parallel thread: "why do those who hold both U.S. H1 visas and Canadian PRs prefer the U.S.?"

Almost three quarters of a mil for an average house? That´s many people´s expected life earnings. And just to stay permanently in debt tied to a hefty mortgage. Even if the job situatiion is fantastic in Ft. McMurray, housing costs easily offset those merits.

But nevertheless, agree that it´s myth to think that the U.S. is superior in all aspects of quality of life.

[18-08-2008,16:56] [***.131.12.0]Richard

(in reply to: Fort Mcmurray cost of living?)wish we could say what goes up never comes down.